India’s rookie batter Sai Sudharsan was delighted after making a successful debut in the opening ODI against South Africa at the New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg on Sunday. Sudharsan scored a fine knock of 55 runs off just 43 balls with the help of nine fours on his debut against the Proteas.

Sudharsan became the 17th Indian to score a fifty on his ODI debut as he batted at the top of his game. The southpaw didn’t show any signs of nerves as he got off to mark with a boundary on the first ball he faced.

The Tamil Nadu batter came up with some flamboyant drives through the off-side to help India win by eight wickets. He also added 88 runs with Shreyas Iyer, who scored 52 runs.

“It was amazing because as a young kid everybody wanted to play for the country and contribute and win trophies for the country. I’m very happy and it was very beautiful feeling. I think it just reacted well to the situation because the wicket was tricky. It was not so easy to bat on but we had a very good partnership and communicated well,” said Sudharsan in a video released by BCCI.

The youngster added he wanted to gain as much awareness as possible of the South African conditions and revealed his experience of playing for India A helped him get acclimatized.

“I just tried to gain as much awareness about the conditions in South Africa as possible. I had already played an India A game, so that helped me as well. I just reacted to the ball well. I had a small feeling that it would be nice to start off with a boundary,” Sudharsan added.

Sudharsan admitted it was an emotional moment for him when he received his maiden ODI cap and then when he stood for the national anthem.

“I love the culture of getting the gap so definitely, it was a bit emotional for me during the national anthem. It was a great feeling and just enjoyed it and stayed in the present,” said Sudharsan.

The second ODI between India and South Africa will be played at St George’s Park, Gqeberha on Tuesday.